There are many models of Treo smartphone, from the old Handspring 180 to the newest Palm Treo 700p, but within these models there are two important distinct types of handset: GSM and CDMA.

For instance, a Treo 600 could be a CDMA or GSM handset, and the difference is very important!

The digest for lazy readers: GSM and CDMA are two types of mobile phone network. GSM is used all over the world, CDMA is largely restricted to the USA and North America. CDMA is often faster for data but using data blocks voice calls. GSM data is often slower but doesn't block voice calls. Tri and quad band GSM phones (like the Treo) can be used all over the world, CDMA phones can't. GSM phones use SIM cards, CDMA phones don't.

ok thank you for this very long explanation...could you please explain then why cingular has the fewest dropped called, because up there you stated cdma has the fewest..which is untrue statistically in the united states (cdma's own home)....but thanks for the explanation im still buying the damn phone its sick as hell and i could give a **** what service is on it...everything works near me so im happy

Its easy to explain. Cingular doesn't offer service in as many locations as VZW. In the city they are both great. There are some areas of the country though that barely get VZW service but don't get any Cingular coverage. Because the VZW coverage isn't that great, there are more dropped calls in those areas. But the fact remains that VZW at least gets SOME coverage there where Cingular doesn't get any. If I'm in a larger area that gets both, it doesn't matter b/c neither has many dropped calls, but if I'm stuck in some out of the way place, I would rather have at least some coverage with VZW and suffer from some dropped calls than not have any coverage at all with Cingular. That's why Cingular has the fewest number of dropped calls. ...(continues)

Sounds good, couldn't have said it better myself. However, what makes you believe that CDMA phones tend to get better battery life? Call me crazy, but as long as I've been selling cell phones, I've never once needed to sell an extended life for a non-pda gsm cell phone. Example, I work in Baltimore where it is half & half Verizon/Cingular. How come it's only the Verizon customers that I see with those fat extended life batteries on their Razrs? How come the GSM Treo 650 gets batter battery life than the CDMA Treo 650? Are these just minor oversights on your part? Or are just partial to Sprint? Personally, I've never used a CDMA handset so I would never argue call quality with you (excluding the "fewest dropped calls campaign"), of cou...(continues)

What really is humorous is that until about a year or so ago when Verizon Wireless got the RAZR, there wasn't a single phone in the store that could sustain more than 1 day of battery life on standby. Maybe a day and a half with any extended battery.

I went and asked one of the employees if they had any phone with great battery life and he looked at me and shook his head as if I was crazy. With Verizon, about all you are paying for is CDMA.

The iPhone went with Cingular for the customer base and advantage of being able to go across seas this year with GSM. Thats it. Not because it's so much better than CDMA.

To me it doesn't matter because even if you have coverage everywhere... the strength of signal isn't the same everywhere... Just go with what works best for you, not just because of some ad campaign...

--Telephia sent a letter this month to officials at all four major wireless companies, saying it didn't know how Cingular concluded that it drops the fewest calls. The San Francisco research firm also said it couldn't say whether Cingular's advertising is fair, legal, or responsible.--

WowYou are an idiot for saying CDMA is inferior. And saying that Verizon and Sprint suck, is an ignorant and idiotic statement. When I had GSM It was garbage, but saying that it is inferior to CDMA would be a stupid.

While im not going to say that verizon or sprint sucks, i see why they picked gsm. The vast majority of the world uses gsm. Maybe it would cost too much to make a cdma version for verizon/sprint. Besides, verizon is known for limiting features of their phones. For them to take a phone with no features stripped would be a big shocker. It's not that any given technology sucks, it may have just cost less.

Buddy, wipe that brown GSM stuff from your mouth. You can't believe the crap they tell you,seriously...GSM while it is used worldwide is very inferior to CDMA. It's not even worth arguing over it, there is nothing to discuss.

Jobs' point was that they wanted to grab the widest market possible. Making a phone that works on American CDMA limits their options considerably. With a GSM device, they can sell it to most of the world with no modification. That's the cold hard fact of CDMA - the smaller customer base is a big disadvantage.

Total Number of GSM subscribers (Worldwide): 2.23 Billion (Source: GSMworld.com)

Total Number of CDMA subscribers (Worldwide): 700 Million(Source: CDG.org)

Total number of handsets sold worldwide last year: 946 Million(Source: Apple/Jobs keynote)

Estimated proportion of total sales by technology:

GSM: 746 million handsetsCDMA: 200 million handsets

Apple's 2008 Sales Goal: 10 Million Units

If you were in charge of Apple's marketing and sales, which market would you rather sell to? The one where you can meet your sales goal with a 1.3% share or the one where you have to gather 5% of the market...for the same amount of revenue. I'm sure the costs of gathering a 5% share might be a little more than 1.3% and th...(continues)

Though, you didn't list WCDMA or CDMA2000 in those figures. That bumps the total number of CDMA users up quite a bit because of Japan and Korea alone, nevermind China, Israel, and other middle eastern, and Asian countries that use CDMA technology.

I think China alone had 250 million CDMA users according to some poll somewhere (though I suspect it's actually far less, and this was a publicity grab, but who knows)

Hey, I thought I had an intelligent answer. But I didn't have the figures, so I can see your point.

It should be mentioned that WCDMA/UMTS should be grouped with GSM (since it's the evolutionary step from GSM), and that Korea should be considered a separate market, as they use different frequencies of CDMA.

I'm highly suspicious of the China figure: that's almost a quarter of the population. Keep in mind how many people in China live in rural/semi rural areas, who'd have no use for a cell phone, much less the income to afford one. All that for CDMA only? Meaning GSM is significantly more? I doubt it.

No, I still think GSM has CDMA beat for total number of users, but I think that CDMA isn't that far behind.

I found the poll that I was refering too, and I'm going to see if I can find an online version of it. It was an est. 250 million people have a cellular phone in China, with 100 million confirmed, all CDMA technology. I would guess that these are people in, and around Bejing, and Hong Kong.

WCDMA and GSM are not the same. GSM is moving toward WCDMA, but they are two entirely different animals. WCDMA is launching out of CDMA2000, which if think of it like this, it all makes sense: CDMA2000 and GSM got together and produced kids. WCDMA/UMTS (they're not the same thing but close enough for this topic) is the end result. Think ...(continues)

Boo hoo... so Moto charged the same introductory price on VZW they did on Cingular and elsewhere. Is it 299.99 now? Nope, heck its $49.99 now on VZW. The price fell pretty quickly after VZW got it too.

Like I said, I'd consider Cing, but VZW's network clobbers theirs where I am. Get a network and some good CS and then I'll care about you getting some phones a lil' earlier.

Except if Jobs doesn't want deal with Verizon and how they disable all the features on their phones.

A few problems:- running osx and their menu system and not verizon's?- Google maps included, then you don't have to pay for verizon's version?- imap email include then you don't have to pay verizon?- bluetooth 2.0 with edr???

They're the most important markets in the world regarding consumer electronics...EXCEPT for wireless devices. I would argue that Europe is the pioneering market there. Regardless though, 3/4 of the worldwide wireless market is GSM. It only makes sense to start off there. And if it truly is a lifelong exclusive type thing, then it makes sense to use GMS as well.

This is a marketing issue, not a technology one. Cingular marketing is making all the right moves (First Blackjack, First Blackberry pearl, Exclusive on the Nokia E series........). Exclusives are pretty commonplace -- Sprint and Verizon have taken turns on who has gotten the latest/greatest Treo the last few years.

However this is a multi-year agreement, and I doubt if Cingular is subsidizing the price of the handsets *and* Apple fans tend to pay sticker no matter what. Don't count on these ever being cheaper until Apple releases iPhone 2.

just let the fever of gsm user cool down and by the 3rd qrt of this year or next this phone will be out on cdma the question is it will be vzw or sprint to be honest vzw won t get it cause the have the chocolate line up i think it will be sprint sadly

Personally...I don't want it..."Fad phones" are not what I go for. They have to prove worthy to get it (i.e 8600 fixed some problems of the 8300). The problem to fad phones is they go so deep with fun add-ons that the phone itself tends to be horrible. Especially when it's a company just entering the market for cellular. I can honestly say, if it doesn't come to vzw, so what...i'm still gettin the 9400 after a few months so that the bugs are fixed